(a)
The department shall annually submit by September 10 of each year and March 1 of the following year, to the Department of Finance for its approval, all assumptions underlying all estimates related to all of the following:
(1)
Average monthly caseload for each of the categorical aid programs.
(2)
Average grant for each of the categorical aid programs.
(3)
Total estimated expenditures for each of the categorical aid programs.
(4)
Savings or costs associated with all regulatory or statutory
changes.
(b)
The Department of Finance shall approve or modify the assumptions underlying all estimates within 15 working days of their submission. If the Department of Finance does not approve or modify the assumptions by such date, the assumptions as presented by the submitting department shall be deemed to be accepted by the Department of Finance as of that date.
(c)
Assumptions shall be released to the legislative fiscal committees immediately following approval or modification by the Department of Finance. The department shall identify those premises to which either of the following apply:
(1)
Have been discontinued since the previous estimate was submitted.
(2)
Have been placed in the basic cost line of the estimate package.
(d)
The department shall submit an estimate of expenditures for each of the categorical aid programs to the Department of Finance by November 1 of each year and April 20 of the following year. Each estimate shall contain a concise statement identifying applicable estimate components, such as caseload, unit cost, implementation date, whether it is a new or continuing premise, and other assumptions necessary to support the estimate. The submittal shall include a projection of the fiscal impact of each of the approved assumptions related to a regulatory, statutory, or policy change; a detailed explanation of any changes to the base estimate projections from the previous estimate; and a projection of the fiscal impact of such change to the base estimate.
(e)
(1)The department shall submit to the Department of Finance, as part of the estimates compiled November 1
each year, a brief narrative description of the methodological steps employed in arriving at all of the following:
(A)
The basic grant costs for the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program and State Supplementary Program.
(B)
The basic administrative costs for the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program and CalFresh.
(C)
All cost estimates for the In-Home Supportive Services program.
(D)
Any cost estimate for new regulations or legislation which exceeds 2 percent of the total cost of the affected program.
(2)
These methodological discussions shall be forwarded to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the fiscal committees along with the November 1 annual estimates of
expenditures. In addition, the department shall, upon request, develop and make available brief written narratives of the steps taken to arrive at specified estimates. Copies of the written narratives, working papers, and data employed in the construction of any estimate used to prepare the Governor’s Budget shall be made available by the State Department of Social Services upon request to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee or the Department of Finance.
(f)
In the event that the methodological steps employed in arriving at those estimates in May differ from those used in November of the preceding year, the department shall submit a brief narrative description of the revised methodology to the Department of Finance, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and the fiscal committees, along with other materials included in the annual May Revision of expenditure estimates.
(g)
The
estimates of average monthly caseloads, average monthly grants, total estimated expenditures (including administrative expenditures and savings or costs associated with all regulatory or statutory changes), as well as all supporting data provided by the department or developed independently by the Department of Finance, shall be made available to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee immediately following approval by the Department of Finance. These departmental estimates, assumptions, and other supporting data as have been prepared shall, however, be forwarded annually to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee not later than January 10 and May 15 by the department if this information has not been released earlier by the Department of Finance.